Dry separating apparatus



Sept. 6,

R. w. ARMS DRY SEPARATING APPARATUS Filed April '7, 1924 1727/67360?" Ea Wflrmfi I Attorney/5'.

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Patented Sept. 6, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT, OFFICE.

RAY V7. ARMS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO ROBERTS AND SCI-IAEFER COM- PANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,

A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

DRY SEPARATING APPARATUS.

Application filed April 7,

My invention relates to a dry separating apparatus and has for one object to provide means for supplying the air under pressure to a plurality of separating tables from a single pressure or supply source. Another object is to provide an apparatus whereby when a single air pump or fan provides all the air for a plurality of separating tables, temporary change in the air requirements of any table or tables will not seriously afiect the operation of the balanceof the table and will not seriously affect the pressure available for the supply of air to any table. Another object is to provide a plenum arrangement whereby air can be fed from a single source such as a fan to a plurality of tables and whereby the pressure in the plenum chamber may be automatically held constant independent of operating variations in the air demand and whereby the pressure throughout the entire length of the plenum chamber and therefore the pressure available to supply air to each separating table may be substantially constant. Other objects will appear from time to tune in the specification and claims.

My invention is illustrated more or less diagrammatically 1n the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a longitudinal section through a plenum chamber showing tables in elevation;

Figure 2 is a plan view.

Like parts are indicated by like characters throughout the specification and drawings. A is a working floor supported by the usual beams and girders not here shown. Resting on this floor are a plurality of separating tables A A arranged as here indicated in two parallel banks of four each, though there might be more or less of these tables, they might be in parallel banks or in a single bank as the case may be. Coal or ore or other material to be separated or classified is fed to these tables through chutes A A from any suitable supply source. The operation of these tables forms no part of my present invention. Suliice it to say that the table deck reciprocates and granular material passes across and air passes up through the stream of material across the deck to effect the separation. The material leaves these tables through chutes A discharging onto a belt conveyor A and traveling about an idler pulley A a driving pulley A and 1924. Serial No. 704,553.

discharging through a chute A Other material leaves the table through chutes A being carried oil by any suitable mechanism not here shown.

Arranged below the floor A is a plenum chamber B. This chamber I have shown as rectangular in cross section though it might be circular or any other shape. This table is larger at the receiving or feed end and tapers downwardly toward the discharge end.. Leading from this chamber are a plurality of air pipes B B communicating with flaring chimneys B B whichin turn discharge against the underside of the separating decks B on the separating tables. B is a fan discharging air through the throat B to the plenum chamber at its larger end. The wall of the chamber is rapidly expanded as at B about the discharge end of the throat B to its maximum cross section before any 01' the air pipes B are reached and from its largest cross section tapers down as indicated. The angle of inclination of the wall of the plenum chamber together with its size, the size of the airpipes B and the capacity of the tan and the air requirements of the separating decks is preferably so proportioned so as to keep the velocity of the air in the plenum chamber below one thousand feet per minute.

In order that the velocity of the air passing through the chamber and the pressure which forces the air out of it through the chimneys and deck may be maintained substantially constant, it is necessary to provide means for controlling the air input to the chamber and many suitable means might be used for this purpose. I have shown two which may be operated separately or in cooperation as the case may be.

C is an electric motor driving the fan through a belt C Power comes to the motor through the conductors C and control switch or rheostat C Movement of the switch arm C will change the speed of the motor and therefore the air out-put of the fan. A shutter C also controls the intake G of the fan and movement of that shutter will control the air drawn into the fan independent of the motor. I have shown the shutter C and the switch arm 0* both controlled from a pressurestat C communieating with the interior of the plenum chamber, the pressurestat is connected with levers C whieh in turn carry C", C controlling the switch arm 0*, and the shutter respectively.

One or bothof these control devices may If the motor oontrol'is not used,-then'it Will be necessary, to provide Within theswi'tc'h housingsome kind of a speed regulation for the motor so that When the shutter C Closes and the tan tends to work an a'i-eao'flower pressure, the motor Will-not run '1 'have'also shown bristo'lgaugetypeof control as at D commu'i'iicati'ng with the pl'nu'ni' chamber with electric conductors D leading-to'and Controlling-the switch.

It Will Ice-evident that'while I have shoj'v'n an operative "device; still ma il' y rhanges might bema'd'e in the size, shapeand arrangement of parts Without departing from the spirlt of my invention and I Wish therefore that my showing be-taken as in a sense dla-grammatlc.

a'l'ofig th-e chamber "ah'dleatlihg one to'each table, automatic means "cont-rolled by the pressure "of air in the chamb erd'or regulating the amount of air fed by t11e*'puniptet11e chamber. V r I Signed fatChicago', musty of "Cook, and

Stateof Illinois, this thday of March,

RAY W. ARMS. 

